Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Sigma dp2 Quattro Review



Sigma dp2 Quattro Review, article.

Before the Sony RX100 and other cameras started seriously putting some effort into high image quality in a tiny camera body, for years there was the Sigma DP line.
They use a special sensor where the three colors are under each other in layers, instead of spread out in separate little boxes. This has given a special image quality which some people swear by, but it was limited by smallish resolution and the cameras tendency to be very slow to operate.

Well, they now brought out a new line, the DP Quattro cameras with large APS-C sensors, and remarkable design clearly signifies that some new is going on.

The cameras have a new sensor, a bit different. It's a bit complex, so I refer you to the article.
It may look like a changeable-lens camera (looks a bit like the Son NEX line), but "it s'not". The DP2 has a fixed 45mm-equivalent F:2.8 lens, which immediately seems a bit Blah to me. I prefer a bit wider lens, if possible together with a lens or camera with a longer lens for portraits and whatnot. And I think in this day and age, 2.8 is not at all fast. Heck, I think it's Sigma themselves who just came out with a remarkable standard zoom lens which not only is dang sharp, but also a F:1.8 lens! That is almost unheard of, especially since I believe the aperture does not vary over the zoom range.

... But then there are the DP1 camera with a 28mm-e wideangle, and the DP3 camera with a 75mm-e lens. Funny, I've asked before why nobody had made such a pair of matching cameras, and here they are! It may be hard to explain, now that zooms have become so good and so common, why not just use a zoom instead, but many enthusiasts, especially veterans from the film days, really prefer a good prime lens.

2 comments:

emptyspaces said...

Wow, now THAT'S thinking outside the box regarding camera design.

My problem with Foveon is that you cannot manipulate the raw files in Lightroom/Photoshop. You have to use Sigma's software. It's an absolute dealbreaker for me.

(And not just for me, the guy at the Sigma booth at CES confessed he doesn't use their cameras for the same reason)

That aside, I have seen some absolutely stunning results made with the Foveon sensor.

Russ said...

Considering the shape, one would think that they could shoehorn a phone in there as well! A cool feature would be the ability to take photos while talking on your phone. ;-)